We use cookies to enhance your experience on our website. This website uses cookies that provide targeted advertising and which track your use of this website. By clicking ‘continue’ or by continuing to use our website, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.ContinueFind out more

Using ‘they’ and ‘them’ in the singular

Every employee is expected to be at their desk by 9.00.

This is an example of what is often referred to as ‘singular they’.

The grammatical subject—every employee—is singular, as is the verb is expected, but the following pronoun, their, is plural. Hence the name. It happens when they, them, their, and themselves refer back to subjects that are grammatically singular:

It was every teen for themselves

When does it happen?

This construction often occurs after words such as:

each

every

any

anyone/anybody

everyone/everybody

nobody/no one

someone/somebody

whoever

that are used to make indefinite or general statements, without specifying the individual concerned.

Each and every one of my colleagues at the university will express their own opinion.

I feel that if someone is not doing their job it should be called to their attention.

Everyone was absorbed in their own business.

Nobody wants to return to the car park and find that their car has been clamped.

Additionally, the practical reason that people often use this form of words is if you are referring to someone of an unknown gender, to use he, him, his, etc. is nowadays considered sexist. Using them, they, or their is a way to avoid making an assumption of gender as there is no gender explicit in these pronouns. Find out more about gender-neutral language. Second, people prefer not to use he or she, him or her, etc. because they are long-winded and can be distracting, especially if they have to be repeated several times in the same sentence or paragraph.

Is it grammatically correct?

Despite objections, there is a trend to use ‘singular they’. In fact, it is historically long established. It goes back at least to the 16th century, and writers such as Shakespeare, Sidney, Byron, and Ruskin used it:

There's not a man I meet but doth salute me

As if I were their well-acquainted friend (Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors)

Whether it is grammatically correct is is a matter of opinion. Two things are matters of fact, however: many people use it, and many others dislike it intensely. If you are writing something, it is therefore advisable to consider who might read it, and what their views might be.